Houston Gets Another Robotaxi Plan
Uber, autonomous driving company Nuro, and electric vehicle maker Lucid have announced plans to bring a robotaxi service to Houston in 2027. The service will use Lucid Gravity SUVs equipped with Nuro's self-driving technology and will be available through the Uber app. Houston is set to become the second market for the program, following an earlier launch planned for the San Francisco Bay Area.
The companies say nearly 100 vehicles are already being tested in Texas and California. To prepare for the rollout, Uber has secured a large Houston operations hub that will handle charging, maintenance, cleaning, and other fleet needs. The vehicles rely on a combination of cameras, radar, and lidar sensors, with testing taking place through simulations, closed-course trials, and supervised public-road driving.
The announcement is part of a broader push into autonomous transportation. Uber, Lucid, and Nuro have previously outlined plans to scale the partnership to many more cities over the coming years as competition in the robotaxi market continues to grow.
Thoughts:
A few years ago, the idea of multiple companies racing to launch competing robotaxi fleets sounded futuristic. Now the news is less about whether they'll arrive and more about which city gets them next.
